Research Proves eSports is a Real Sport

For whatever reason, a few researchers at the German Sports University felt that eSports and its participants need to be studied. So they did. And the results suggest the average eSports professional experiences as much as or even more physical stress than an athlete.

Ingo Frobose is the name of the professor who had begun his research in 2011. Nobody had paid a lot of attention to what goes into competing in eSports professionally. Frobose gave the gaming community somewhat of a spotlight.

According to the research, eSports requires the professional to be able to perform at least 400 movements on the mouse and keyboard per minute. To the gamer, this might seem nominal, but to the researcher, this was more than surprising.

“We were particularly impressed by both the demands placed on the motor skills and their capabilities,” Froböse said. “The eSports athletes achieve up to 400 movements on the keyboard and the mouse per minute, four times as much as the average person.”

To the person walking by, an eSports professional at his top game might look like an addict clicking and tapping away. But Frobose suggested that there is a lot more to the sport than just what it looks like. He suggested that strategy and MOBAs like League of Legends utilize numerous parts of the brain. A normal LoL match takes up decent amount of processing power to solve complex in-game problems tactically.

Cortisol is apparently a stress hormone produced inside athletes that they deal with while they are performing their tasks. ESports professionals were tested for this hormone.

“The amount of cortisol produced is about the same level as that of a race-car driver,” Froböse said. “This is combined with a high pulse, sometimes as high as 160 to 180 beats per minute, which is equivalent to what happend during a very fast run, almost a marathon. That’s not to mention the motor skills involved. So in my opinion, eSports are just as demanding as most other types of sports, if not more demanding,”.

The studies and tests that Frobose carried out brought him hard statistics. These proved the relevance of eSports to other forms of athleticism. The research also allowed him to present possible solutions to help eSports professionals.

Frobose suggested that if eSports professionals gave themselves proper nutrition, they would perform far better. Proper nutrition will affect the ability to perform motor skills. Daily exercise will also enhance movements and coordination. This alarmed Frobose and he wished to present possible solutions.

“In terms of their fitness, many of our test subjects are simply average citizens, and average citizens worry me. They simply aren’t fit,” Froböse said. “For example, they fail to do exercises that would strengthen the whole support system in the shoulder and neck areas. Were they to do this, this would improve their fine-motor skills in the arm area, something that is extremely important in competition.”

ESports professionals need to pay heed to the research that Frobose had carried out. And also give him a tip of the hat for taking the time to invest into eSports community.